School Library

“A book is a dream that you hold in your hands.” – Neil Gaiman

Following a complete redesign and refurbishment, our pupils have access to a modern, bright and welcoming learning environment.  The Library is an inspirational room that not only encourages pupils to pick up a book and read, but also features a spacious ICT zone and study area.  The clusters of comfortable soft seating create a relaxed environment for pupils to sit quietly and read, which is also the perfect setting for our pupils in Year 7, 8 and 9 who take part in the Accelerated Reader programme.

The library is extremely popular and is open to pupils at break, lunch and after school.  There are shelving areas dedicated to the theme of the month, health and wellbeing and careers.  We are proud to stock a generous selection of books aimed at meeting various needs, such as Hi-Lo titles to engage struggling readers and dyslexia friendly titles.  We always endeavour to fulfil pupil requests and have recently invested in a new magazine shelf stocked with a wide range of popular magazines to help pupils embrace reading for pleasure.

Holy Cross helps to support our new Year 7 starters to embrace reading for pleasure by taking part in the Bookbuzz reading programme.  All Year 7 pupils are able to choose a free book in September to help start them on their reading journey.  We think this is a great way to inspire a love of reading.

At Holy Cross we celebrate our love of reading with various events that pupils can participate in throughout the year:

• Scholastic Book Fairs hosted twice yearly.
• We celebrate World Book Day with a range of whole school activities and competitions for all pupils to get involved with.
• We host visits from popular authors which feature talks, creative workshops and Q and A sessions.

We always welcome pupils who want to help in the library.  There are currently 28 pupil assistants who have taken on a duty at lunch times to provide support and to learn the roles and responsibilities involved in running an efficient library.  These experiences help pupils to develop lifelong skills; such as communication, organisation and ICT skills.